Yard Sale Documentation Project: 4-21-12

Today is not going to set any records in the annals of yard sale history. Although the predicted-rain held off until much later in the day, this was a day where we all might have been better off sleeping in.

Today we had some guest salers with us, one of my daughter’s friends from high school and her sister. Kathy was searching for baby items for her June arrival, and her sister was looking to decorate her new office. Sadly, the only one who got anything today was Vera, and she didn’t even bother to make the trip. (She’s only 18 months old so I’ll cut her some slack.)

The photo at the top of this article is the sight that sends a yard saler’s heart into a twitter: THE PILE; the mound of possessions on someone’s property just waiting to be plucked. Such potential … which on this day was unrealized.

You’ll be seeing many photos of yard sale signage over the course of this season’s blog. Having a good sign for your sale is like having a smile on your face when you’re on a first date.

I wish I had taken a picture of the meager attempt to draw customers into one of the better-off neighborhoods, a pathetic 8” x 10” brown cardboard sign with black lettering on a 1’ stake on the opposite side of the road from where we needed to turn. COME ON people, give us something to work with here!

And then there’s this:

No address to locate, no arrow to point the way, no Pile in sight. No help at all.

Today’s doldrums did, however, spurn the clarification of the categories for which we will be casting votes during the current season. Here they are:

Best Dang Yard Sale of the Season

Best Over-All Day of the Season (Last year this was the day Kate’s college friend Whitney from Connecticut was with us…hope she doesn’t expect a repeat performance as a matter of course. Seriously — we needed two cars to cart home all the stuff we’d bought that day.)

Worst Excuse For a Yard Sale

Biggest Price Delusions of the Season

Best Signage of the Season

Most Fab Sighting of the Season (Refer back to the 2011 sighting of a woman mowing her lawn at 8:30am while sporting hair rollers and a nightie.)

So while it wasn’t that great of a sale day out there this morning, it’s always good to spend a few hours with my daughter and get an early start to the day.

For the record, here’s what I picked up for Vera: some Melissa & Doug wooden puzzle boards and a new book. Total cost $1.25.